Just About Perfect
by runningwyld
Summary: Danny plans the perfect proposal. He should have known that nothing ever goes according to plan. Why? Because Steve is a crazy person. Established McDanno slash.


Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of its characters. This is merely a work of fan fiction and no infringement is intended.

AN: Cannon up to Season 7, Episode 8 Hana Komo Pae (Rite of Passage) - After that, this series of stories that I've deemed my "It's About Damn Time" universe becomes slightly AU (See stories "Did You Mean It" and/or "Pick a Base") as Steve and Danny admit their feelings, begin a relationship, and eventually move in together. I recently posted a story in this series entitled "What Is the Matter With You?" in which Steve proposes to Danny. That story did not start out as a proposal story, but somehow ended up that way. I had always had in my mind that Danny would be the one to propose in this little AU I've created. So, after posting that story, my muse immediately insisted I write the Danny proposal I'd always intended. Therefore, I'm hereby declaring "What Is the Matter With You?"a stand-alone proposal story. This story is now officially cannon, at least in my "It's About Damn Time" universe. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

"What was I thinking? I must be crazy to want to marry you," Danny yelled at a completely stunned Steve.

 _One week earlier:_

"Uncle Steve, can you please come see if I worked this physics problem right?" As Danny watched, Steve immediately got up from where he and Charlie were building a Lego fort, gave the boy's hair a quick muss, and walked over to where Grace was doing her homework at the dinner table. As he looked over her shoulder, Steve pointed to something on the page and Grace nodded, making a change on her paper. Looking up from the book he'd been trying to read for the last month, Danny was struck by an overwhelming realization: " _This is it_ ," he thought. " _This is what I want for the rest of my life._ " Amazingly, it was as simple as that. Danny's long held conviction that he would never even consider getting married again flew right out the window. He immediately started planning.

His first thought was to go traditional: a fancy restaurant, followed by a walk on the beach where he'd get down on one knee and pop the question. That would be so corny and out of character for them though that he decided Steve would probably think it was a joke. He immediately discarded that idea.

He could make a nice home cooked dinner instead, one of his nonna's recipes, a nice bottle of wine, a little candlelight ... hmm, that seemed just a little too cliché.

Maybe he'd plan a hike up to the petroglyphs as a sort of recreation of what he'd come to think of as their first date (even if it had taken them six years to realize that's what it had been). With their luck though, it would end up being a real recreation, complete with dead body and a broken bone. Nope, no good.

He decided to ask Grace if she had any ideas, girls were good that that sort of thing, well maybe not all girls, but he was sure Grace would be. She'd been his and Steve's biggest supporter from the start, so he knew she would be happy at the prospect of them getting married. At least he hoped she would be. He'd ask Steve to give Charlie his bath and while they were reenacting some naval battle with Charlie's toy boats, he'd talk to Grace.

H50*H50*H50* H50*H50*H50

Grace was ecstatic. After Steve and Charlie left the room, Danny moved to the couch and asked Grace to sit with him so they could talk. Once he assured her she wasn't in any trouble and he was not about to give her another lecture on the evilness of boys in general and Will in particular, she reluctantly sat down beside him. When he suggested the possibility of proposing to Steve, Grace squealed and lunged forward and wrapped him in a hug.

"Danno, I'm so happy for you guys." If he hadn't been completely convinced of Grace's support for his and Steve's relationship, her smile alone would have been enough to extinguish any lingering doubts.

"He hasn't said yes, yet," Danny felt it necessary to point out.

She rolled her eyes. "Please, Uncle Steve is so in love with you that I'm surprised he hasn't already proposed to you himself. The way he looks at you sometimes, Dad, it's like you're his sun and if you weren't around his world would be completely dark." At his amused looked, Grace explained bashfully, "I might have read a couple of mom's romance novels recently."

"So you'd really be okay with it if your Uncle Steve and I got married." He wasn't sure why he was being so persistent, but he had to be 100% sure that Grace was okay with him getting remarried, even if it was to the man she thought of as practically another father.

"Of course, Dad, I just want both of you to be happy and I don't think either of you could be completely happy without the other. You've been through so much together already. You deserve this."

"Thank you, Grace. Your support means everything. I love you, Monkey." Briefly cupping her face in his hands, Danny leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"I love you too, Danno," Grace replied. Then, bouncing in her seat a little, she asked, "Now, how are you going to propose? What's the plan?"

"Well now, daughter-of-mine, that's where I need your assistance."

H50*H50*H50* H50*H50*H50

Danny ran around the corner of the warehouse just in time to see Steve bring down their suspect with a flying tackle. David Kalama was wanted in connection with a recent string of private yacht hijackings that had left three people dead. The governor was not happy with the publicity these modern day pirates were generating or its detrimental effect on tourism. Five-0 just wanted to bring the murderers to justice. With his knee in the middle of the perp's back, Steve reached into one of the pockets of his cargo pants and retrieved a pair of flex-cuffs. Just as Steve was pulling the man to his feet, Danny spotted movement in the doorway of an adjacent warehouse. Danny raised his gun and fired while shouting at Steve to get down. His first shot missed and the man was able to get off a wild shot of his own before Danny's next bullet took him down. He kept his gun pointed at the shooter as he ran over and kicked the man's gun away. He knelt down and felt for a pulse. Nothing. The guy took a shot center mass, no amount a CPR was going to bring him back.

Danny turned around, holstered his gun, and stalked back to where Steve was once again pulling Kalama to his feet. When he saw his partner's expression, it was all Danny could do not to punch him. "Thanks for having my back there, buddy," Steve told him, showing no contrition whatsoever. Oh, he should not have said that and he sure as hell should not have said it with a grin on his face.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Danny screamed as he marched angrily back and forth in front of Steve and the suspect. "We knew he had a partner," Danny gestured to the body lying 20 yards away. "I told you we needed to wait for backup, but what do you do?" Danny asked rhetorically as he stopped to poke Steve in the chest with one finger. "Like a crazy person you go chasing after this idiot without once considering there might be a gun aimed at your head." He threw up his hands. "What was I thinking? I must be crazy to want to marry you," Danny yelled at a completely stunned Steve.

"What did you just say?" Steve asked, as if he wasn't sure he'd heard correctly.

"Damn." Danny dropped his head and covered his face with his hands.

"Daniel, what did you just say?" Steve persisted, all the while keeping a firm grip on the on the back of Kamala's shirt.

"He said he must be crazy to want to marry you," the suspect supplied helpfully. "What? Are you two knocking boots or something?"

"Shut up," Steve growled and gave the perp a rough shake.

Danny dropped his hands from his face, but kept his head down. "I had everything planned." He wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or Steve.

"Danny," Steve's voice was soft and cajoling.

Danny looked up at his partner and gave a small apologetic smile, completely ignoring the criminal Steve now held by the scruff of the neck. "I was going to take you to Maui for a long weekend. Rent a nice little private cottage. No gunfights, no explosions, just you, me, good food, good wine, and very little clothing. Then, when the time was right, I was going to explain how because of you this tropical hell has somehow become my home and that loving you has made me happier than I ever thought it was possible for me to be. Then, Steven, then I was going to ask you to marry me. Now you've gone and spoiled everything."

"Spoiled everything? But, Danny..."

"No, you do not get to talk. This is all your fault. Grace is going to be so disappointed. She helped me plan the whole thing and now it's all ruined. I'll have to tell my baby girl that I proposed in the middle of a take-down while screaming at you for almost getting your head blown off. And who were our witnesses? I'll tell you who, a dead perp and this murdering SOB. How's that for a romantic proposal story, huh?"

"Well, if you leave out the parts about the dead guy and me almost getting my head blown off, it's just about perfect."

"Perfect?" Danny repeated. "Perfect?" His voiced pitched much higher the second time he said it. "How can you say that? Maui, a cottage, wine, that would have been perfect. This, this..." he trailed off and shook his head, unsure what to say or do at this point. Just then, Grover, Duke, and a dozen HPD officers arrived, lights on and sirens blaring. Steve quickly handed off Kamala and motioned towards his dead accomplice before grabbing Danny's arm and pulling him off to the side.

"Danny?"

"What?"

"Ask?"

"What? Here? Now?"

"Yeah, I don't want to wait. Maui sounds like it would have been great and we can still go, but I don't want to wait until we get there to make it official, so will you please just ask me?"

Danny glanced over at the chaos going on less than 30 feet away before turning back to his partner. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out again. Then, he took both of Steve's hands in his and started talking from the heart, "Steven J. McGarrett, I've known you for eight years and I've loved you almost as long, even if I haven't always been aware of exactly what that meant. I'll be forever grateful to you for having the courage to acknowledge your feelings and for risking your heart by telling me." Danny saw the small smile those words put on Steve's face. The other man relished the fact that he'd been the one to admit his feelings first. "Remember how I told you when we were stuck in that collapsed building that when I married Rachel all I could think about was that one day she was going to serve me with divorce papers and that the only sustained happiness I'd ever felt up 'til then was Grace?"

"Yeah, I remember, that day was the first time we said 'I love you' to each other."

"See there, you remember the good stuff, that's one of reasons I love you. But, back to what I was saying..."

"I really hope there's a proposal at the end of this somewhere."

"Shut up and let me finish. Anyway, I thought Grace, and later Charlie, were the only real happiness I'd ever have in my life, but that's not true anymore, now I have you too. And, Steve ... you, this, us together, that makes me happy. It's not like with Rachel, I'm not just trying to hold on to it as long as I can, believing that someday it's going to end with you walking away from me. I know, in my heart I know, that you will never willingly leave me."

"Never, Danny, never in a million years." Steve squeezed his hands so tightly it almost hurt. Danny pulled one hand free and laid his palm against Steve's cheek.

"I'd never leave you either. I may kill you one day, but I'd never willingly leave you. I want this, I want us, forever. I love you, Steven, will you marry me?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll definitely marry you. I love you, Danny, and I love Grace and Charlie like they are my own children, and there is nothing I want more in this world than to marry you, to be a family."

As if drawn by some magnetic force they couldn't control, they came together in a heated kiss. If Danny could think about anything in that moment beyond Steve and the feel of his mouth on his, he'd probably laugh at the sight they surely made: Two men in bullet-proof vests with guns strapped to their sides standing in the middle of a crime scene, surrounded by at least a dozen police officers, making out as if they were the only two people on Earth. But, Danny didn't think of any of that, at least not until he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder.

"Guys," Grover said loudly. Danny thought it probably wasn't the first time he had tried to get their attention. "Guys, come on now, as entertaining as this is, can't it wait until you get home? We need your report of what happened here." Reluctantly, Danny and Steve allowed Lou to separate them.

"Sorry," Danny said sheepishly. "We sort of forgot where we were."

Steve just grinned as he moved to stand next the Danny and put his arm around his shoulders.

"Obviously," Lou replied. "Something happen you want to tell me about?"

"Danny asked me to marry him and I said yes."

"He asked you to marry him in the middle of an arrest?" Grover asked incredulously.

"Where else?" Steve replied. "It was perfect." He turned and kissed Danny's cheek.

"Look," Danny felt the need to defend himself to Lou. "I had a very nice romantic getaway planned, but this Neanderthal went and almost got himself killed and my perfect proposal turned into ...," Danny waved a handed in a circle to indicate their surroundings, "this."

"It was perfect," Steve insisted.

Danny looked at his new fiancé. Steve was smiling down at him looking sexy as hell in his black t-shirt and tac-vest and the happiness on Steve's face made Danny's heart soar. "Yeah, I guess it was just about perfect at that."

"Congratulations, I'm really happy for you." Lou moved in and wrapped them both in a big bear hug. When he released them he turned and started walking away, but called over his shoulder, "now get your asses back to work, you can play smoochie smoochie later."

After one more quick kiss just to be contrary, Danny and Steve followed Grover. Right before they reached the crowd of officers, Danny stopped Steve with a hand on his arm. "Just so you know, you're the one who's going to have to tell Grace that her romantic proposal plan got shot to hell because of your reckless behavior." With that he turned and walked towards Duke, ignoring Steve's pleas.

"But, Danny, Gracie's going to be mad at me. Danny, come on, we don't have to tell her everything, right? Right, Danno?"

Danny smiled to himself. It really had been the perfect proposal ... at least for them. He knew Grace would see that too, but that didn't mean he couldn't let Steve stew for a little while. He'd make it up to him when they got to Maui.

 ** _The End (of this story, at least.)_**

 _AN:_ I know I've posted stories each of the last three Sundays, but for some reason I've been on a McDanno writing binge. Thanks so much for reading.


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